


taking care

by phalangine



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Multi, Party, Threesome - F/M/M, eleanor guthrie is a bamf even when she's drunk, james is more mcgraw than flint and has no idea what eleanor just set him up with, john is bad at being genuine, john/madi is an established thing, madi knows what she wants, references to past james/miranda/thomas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 21:16:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8683663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phalangine/pseuds/phalangine
Summary: Madi has been with John for two years. She knows he dresses to the left. He knows her right breast is smaller than her left. Tonight, he knows she was too tired after work to bother matching her bra to her panties, just as she knows he’s wearing briefs because it’s going to get hot and he doesn’t like his boxers sticking to his ass. In short, whether they like it or not, there is no mystery in their relationship. The spark of intrigue is long gone. For Madi, this is a good thing. The best thing. Her relationship with John is stable. It’s always there- he’s always there. For John… Well, John needs an anchor sometimes. He spends all his time at work delving through other people’s heads- having a reliable routine is good for him.

  That said, there is something to be said for variety.





	1. the party

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on [this thread](http://blacksails-kink.dreamwidth.org/2583.html?thread=6935#cmt6935) at the bs kinkmeme

They meet James Flint at one of Eleanor’s parties.  
  
John and Madi arrive together, wave a quick hello to their hostess together, then quickly separate in search of their drinks. John drove to the party, so Madi will drive home, which means it’s beers for him and cola for her. They meet back up and move into the massive living room. The party is just getting into swing, so there’s still plenty of room to find a place to stake out. John quickly picks an open spot in one of the corners by a group talking excitedly. John leads Madi over to the group, patting one of them on the back and laughing when the poor man nearly falls off his perch on the sofa’s arm.  
  
“John Silver, you made it!” The man gets to his feet excitedly, unfurling giant legs as he does.  
  
John pulls the man into a one-armed hug with a laugh. “Madi, you remember Billy Bones, don’t you?”  
  
Madi nearly has a heart attack when realizes that yes, the giant man towering over John is in fact William Manderly. “Billy?” she splutters. “I thought you were overseas!”  
  
In true Billy fashion, the sweet man she tutored in her parents’ tongue blushes and ducks his head. “Hi, Madi,” he says when he looks up, a crooked grin pushing out one cheek. “I got back early.”  
  
“Mr. Manderly,” Madi says, putting on her best teacher voice despite the laughter bubbling up in her at the sight of usually unflappable Billy practically scuffing his feet, “you come here, and you give me a hug.”  
  
After a moment’s hesitation, Billy steps forward and engulfs her in a hug. It’s a good hug, warm and firm, and Madi doesn’t bother trying not to pat Billy’s massive back. It’s firm, too, and she remembers watching him run around with the little children under the sprinkler. Billy isn’t interested in her like that, of course- isn’t interested in anyone like that, so far as Madi knows. But he’s a damn good looking man, and John doesn’t mind her looking, even if Billy is like a brother to him.  
  
The rest of Billy’s group are strangers, and after the embrace ends, Madi and John don’t linger, both of them eyeing the slowly filling room and making a dash for the corner they staked out earlier. There, they step close, shoulder to shoulder, and settle in to watch the other guests. Besides Billy’s group, which looks to be full of other recent graduates, there’s a group that, from the conversation, sounds like it’s made of mall cops. Then there are the models, all of them swathed in casual yet obviously tailored clothes, and across from them, two weary looking people with paint on their faces.  
  
_Eleanor_ , Madi thinks with a smile and a shake of her head. The woman sure has an eclectic group of friends.  
  
John is just starting to sag against her, a sure sign he’s working on his second, maybe third beer- damn straight she noticed the bottle popping out of his pockets- when Eleanor herself pops up, a man Madi doesn’t recognize towed behind her, his reluctance obvious.  
  
“Finally!” Eleanor says excitedly as she comes to a stop. “I’ve been looking for you two for ages. I’d like you to meet an acquaintance of mine. James, meet John Silver and Madi Scott. John, Madi- this is James Flint.”  
  
James holds out a hand, which John takes first. Madi shakes second and finds the grip a happy middle between hard and dead fish. James’ hand is warm and dry, and she finds herself letting go reluctantly. Beside her, John has perked up.  
  
“Well, I better get going,” Eleanor tells them, a sly smile touching her lips as she turns and practically runs away.  
  
James watches her go with a sigh. Running a hand over his slicked-back ponytail, he gives Madi a lopsided smile. “Sorry about this. I just got back, and I think Ellie is having fun showing me off.”  
  
Madi can’t blame Eleanor for the impulse. The more she looks at James, the more she finds to her liking. He’s well-built: trimly muscular like a swimmer, with solid shoulders. His features are fine, the sort that suit statues. Above, his long hair is bright red, practically copper in this light, and he skin is covered in the most endearing freckles. He’s watching her with the greenest eyes she’s ever seen. They aren’t blue-maybe-green. They’re perfectly, vividly green.  
  
Beside Madi, John has lost his tension and managed to keep James from running off by engaging him in conversation. James is newly retired from the Navy. He knows Eleanor through her father- Richard Guthrie works with the Navy as a contractor, and James is an officer high up enough to have worked with him.  
  
Madi watches them go back and forth without breaking in; she doesn’t need to. She can feel what’s building between the men as much as John feels it.  
  
So it comes as a surprise when it isn’t John but James who turns to her and asks, “And what about you, Ms. Scott?” His voice is warm and welcoming. His tone is curious, not at all the tone of a man being forced to recognize someone.  
  
An idea takes root.  
  
Madi has been with John for two years. She knows he dresses to the left. He knows her right breast is smaller than her left. Tonight, he knows she was too tired after work to bother matching her bra to her panties, just as she knows he’s wearing briefs because it’s going to get hot and he doesn’t like his boxers sticking to his ass. In short, whether they like it or not, there is no mystery in their relationship. The spark of intrigue is long gone. For Madi, this is a good thing. The best thing. Her relationship with John is stable. It’s always there- he’s always there. For John… Well, John needs an anchor sometimes. He spends all his time at work delving through other people’s heads- having a reliable routine is good for him.  
  
That said, there is something to be said for variety.  
  
Specifically, there could be something very good about James Flint.  
  
“I think people should follow rules, yes,” Madi says in answer to James’ question, “but only after they have thought for themselves whether those rules have merit to them. And whether that merit is worth the freedom they are giving up by modifying their behavior.”  
  
James nods thoughtfully, and John throws an arm around Madi’s shoulders. “There’s my girl,” he says proudly. “She’s a smart one.”  
  
“That she is,” James agrees, his gaze heated as he looks between Silver and Madi.  
  
_Got him,_ Madi thinks proudly. _Now John just has to reel him in._  
  
***  
  
John Silver is something of an expert at reading people. You don’t get to be a respected psychiatrist these days without knowing how to talk people into buying what you’re selling, whether they’re patients or other academics. The former generally wants to buy into it but needs a little coaxing to give John’s methods a chance. The latter, on the other hand, needs the stick more than the carrot. For the people outside those groups, well… A bit of carrot with a hint of the stick generally does the trick.  
  
So far, with James Flint, that approach is yielding mixed results.  
  
He likes Madi plenty- the two of them have been talking about books for nearly half an hour. Last John heard, they were comparing the merits of _La Galatea_ and _Don Quixote_. It’s driving John mad. He’s the likeable one, and Madi is the one people need time to warm up to. Not the other way around. Even John’s usual flirting style isn’t affecting James. The man is impervious to the blink and look down. The once-over. The lean in. The soft voice. The deep voice. The stare. All of it, worthless.  
  
“Well, yes,” James is saying now, his attention fixed on Madi, “but in _Meditations,_ Marcus Aurelias says-”  
  
“Do you really think that old man is going to sway my opinion?”  
  
“I’m going to go get another drink,” John announces, holding up his empty beer bottles. In response, he gets a distracted, “Grab me another soda?” from Madi and a nod from Flint.  
  
John makes his escape quickly. He ducks and weaves through the room back to the kitchen. There, he takes his sweet time picking another beer, running over the pros and cons of each brand as if he doesn’t know damn well which one he’s going to get. As if he doesn’t have it in one hand already, Madi’s cola in the other.  
  
It’s just as he’s beginning to admit defeat- James Flint is impervious to him- that Eleanor appears. She’s swaying with the ease of the firmly intoxicated, and when she sees him, she lets out a loud, happy noise and sways over faster.  
  
“John Silver!” she says loudly.  
  
“Elearnor Guthrie,” John says as seriously as he can. He doesn’t see Eleanor drunk very often, and when he does, he enjoys playing along with her fun side. Especially if he’s been drinking, too. Which he has been tonight. Not as much as he’s wanted, too…  
  
She blinks up at him, and yeah, she’s been trying to keep up with Vane again. “How are you getting along with James?”  
  
John scratches his jaw, his beard rasping loudly as he does. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
_Good God,_ John thinks. _Eleanor Guthrie is pouting at me._ “I just don’t think I’m his type, Eleanor.”  
  
“Sure you are!” Eleanor insists, every syllable carefully pronounced. “That’s why I gave him to you.”  
  
“You- I’m sorry, but you _gave_ him to me?” John demands, voice rising.  
  
Eleanor nods. “He lost people, Mis-ter Sil-ver. He needs somebody to take care of him. You and Madi are perfect!” She relents, her eyes going wide. “You _are_ going to take good care of him, aren’t you?”  
  
“It’s hard to take care of somebody who doesn’t like you.”  
  
“Stop pretending.” John makes to open his mouth to protest, but Eleanor presses a finger to his lips. “No, no, no. I know you, John Silver. You’re very good at acting the part you think people want you to play, and usually, you’re right, damn you. But! James will see through you. You have to be gen-u-ine, John.”  
  
“What are you talking about? I’m always-”  
  
“Playing games.” Eleanor sighs. The drunken ease from earlier evaporates, and she sags against the table. “Madi only got to know you because she met you just after you lost your leg and you couldn’t just walk away and pretend everything was fine.”  
John never would have guessed Eleanor knew him so well. But of course she does- she’s Eleanor Fucking Guthrie. She knows everything about everyone. It’s her job.  
  
“Stop trying to charm him,” Eleanor continues. “And engage him about what you want to talk about.”  
  
“You do realize you’re pimping out your friend, right?”  
  
“Only if you do your job correctly.”  
  
John smiles, a second wind in his sails. “Yes, ma’am.”  
  
The renewed energy carries him all the way back to Madi and James, who are now sitting on the floor. John joins them, only a little unsteadily, and hands over Madi’s drink. James lifts a brow curiously, and it hits John that they’ve been talking about him.  
  
“I take it you’ve told James about my horrific injury?” he asks, turning to Madi with a bland expression.  
  
“If by ‘horrific injury’, you mean the time you belly flopped off the side of a ship, yes,” Madi says with a bland expression of her own, and John sighs.  
  
“Did you promise there was a moratorium on that?”  
  
“There was,” Madi allows, “but James and I were trading sea stories, and that was the only one that came to mind.”  
  
She has a point. They live hours away from the beach now, and even though she grew up on ships, Madi’s history with the ocean is complicated. John’s one adventure in sailing the high seas is the only story fit for company.  
  
“I guess it was rather funny- in hindsight,” he admits. Lifting his beer, he pops the top and holds it out for her to knock cheers with hers. She does, a knowing smile on her lips, and John feels himself smiling at her.  
  
A foot away, James coughs. “Thank you for your company, but I’ve intruded long enough.”  
  
“But have you heard about the time Madi and Eleanor got into a fistfight over an imaginary cat?” John interrupts, raising a brow at the man trying to slink away.  
  
James cocks his head and settles back down. “No, I have not.”  
  
“Even if you had,” Madi says, leaning closer, “you haven’t really heard a story until you’ve heard John tell it.”  
  
That brings a little more life into James, who turns to John with a look that says, _Prove it_ , and John has always had a weakness for handsome men daring him to do things.  
  
He clears his throat. “It started, as you might imagine, in a bar…”  
  
Sometime later, in the middle of the tale of Randall And The Porridge, John realizes they’ve moved. Madi and James have their backs to the wall, with John sitting opposite, between them. Where James’ legs are crossed neatly, Madi’s are stretched out fully, her feet in John’s lap. She’s leaning her head on James’ shoulder and has a hand on James’ upper arm, her thumb rubbing across a swell of muscle. She isn’t even trying to be subtle.  
  
John stutters, thrown by the way James is regarding him now- his attention is nowhere but on John, his lips twitching with each ridiculous turn of the story of John’s internship at a pirate themed restaurant takes.  
  
“Something wrong, John?” Madi asks, even though she knows damn well what John is thinking.  
  
“Not at all, darling.” John forces himself to smile. “I just got caught up in remembering what comes next.”  
  
“John doesn’t have the best stamina,” Madi tells James, who flushes, his cheeks turning a vicious red moments later. “He’s good at what he does, but, well, he gets caught up in it sometimes.”  
  
James coughs. “Is that so? He doesn’t seem like the type.”  
  
_Holy shit,_ John thinks in wonder. _We’ve got him._ “I assure you, James, Madi is just teasing. Though I must say, I _am_ good at what I do.”  
  
“That’s…” James swallows. “Good to hear.”  
  
“Isn’t it?” Madi leans up and whispers something in James’ ear that makes his blush deepen further. Without looking away, she motions John over. He goes easily, settling on James’ free side.  
  
“Perhaps you’d like a demonstration, though?” he asks. “A military man like you must want firsthand proof. Test things out yourself.”  
  
“That is the way it goes,” James rasps, his eyes locked on John. His throat moves as he swallows; his eyes are nearly pupil, all that brilliant green swallowed up by the black.  
  
“Madi,” John says without breaking eye contact, “perhaps you should tell Eleanor we’re leaving.”  
  
She laughs low and warm and with a quick, “I’ll be right back, sir,” gets fluidly to her feet.  
  
John ducks his head, hiding his grin lest their new friend get spooked.  
  
_Eleanor was right after all,_ he thinks absently. Madi returns soon after, and with James safely ensconced between them, they head out to the car and, finally, home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought hard about madi’s last name being scott and the implications it would have, and in the end i went for it. and yes, james was a lieutenant in the show, which i’m pretty sure isn’t/wasn’t a high-ranking position but it's okay to bump him up a pay grade if it's For Fic Reasons, right?


	2. the sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally, they do the do

“James,” Madi says over her shoulder as she leads them through the apartment, “just to be clear: you do know what we’re going to do tonight, right?”

James swallows. In the silence of three AM, the sound rings in his ears. “We’re going to have sex.”

Behind him, John snorts. “I thought you Navy men were smoother than this. You must have someone at every port you’ve put anchor in.”

“No,” James says, remembering against his will the soft skin of Thomas’ neck. Miranda’s long, smooth legs. The mixture of Thomas’ cologne- always expensive, something that lingered for moments after Thomas left- Miranda, who never favored perfume but smelled sweet and warm on her own. Phantom fingers trail over his shoulders; Thomas and Miranda both enjoyed trying to make his freckles connect into some shape or another.

A hand, this one heavy with the present, touches his arm. Madi has stopped just outside a door and half-turned to face him. The hand she has on him is delicate, her fingers even shorter but thinner than Miranda’s. The two have a common love of reading, but where Miranda was a traditional woman, James gets the sense Madi is anything but.

Behind him, John comes to a stop just a little bit too slow and bumps into James. Rather than back away, he takes another step closer, his arms coming up to wrap around James’ middle.

“Where are you, Mr. Flint?” he asks. “You certainly aren’t here.”

James feels his jaw work as he searches for an answer but comes up blank. He doesn’t want to brush John aside. He’s tired of being alone, and the feeling of a half-hard cock pressing against his ass promises the perfect escape.

Madi comes to his rescue. Sliding her hand down his arm, she takes his hand and says, “He is here now. Let’s go.”

The door swings open smoothly, and James follows Madi into a cozy room that features an enormous bed- “John is not a peaceful sleeper,” Madi says wryly, to which John, who still has his arms around James, merely hums his agreement- with two pairs of slippers at the foot. Curled up across them lies a black and white cat.

John lets go of James in favor of picking up the cat. “Betsy,” he says proudly. “She probably shouldn’t be here for this, should she? No, she shouldn’t. No, she shouldn’t!”

“John,” Madi interrupts, her voice strained with forced patience, “would you please just put the cat in the other room?”

“Yes, love.”

James watches Madi watch John leave. He takes in her fond, exasperated smile. The way her hands slip to her hips.

“Come along,” she says, finally tearing her eyes away from the doorway. “John will probably fuss over the cat for a while- he always does. We don’t need to wait for him. He’ll come when he’s ready.”

He nods and lets her walk him backwards onto the bed. It doesn’t squeak when he drops onto it, the soft pad dipping and molding itself around him. James isn’t used to this sort of luxury. The Navy wants its men to sleep when they can, but it isn’t doling out cash for king sized beds that feel like they’re made of clouds.

Madi lets him wonder at the sensation for a moment, her mouth quirked into a gentle smile. But only for a moment. Then she straddles his lap, gracefully coming to rest with her knees by James’ hips.

He puts his hands on her hips automatically. Through the thin material of her dress, he can feel the tiny dip in her flesh where the waistband of her underwear arches over.

“You have the most beautiful eyes,” she says softly as she leans up and presses a kiss between his brows. “And a lovely nose.” She kisses the bridge of his nose. “And beautiful cheekbones.” She presses a featherlight kiss to each cheek. “And a handsome chin.” A kiss there, too. “And the softest-looking lips I’ve ever seen on a man. Are they really that soft?” Reaching up, she runs a finger over his lips, and James feels his mouth open. Madi kindly doesn’t remark on that.

“Well?” James asks hoarsely.

She smiles at him. “They seem very soft, sir. But I have one more test- just to be sure.”

“And what might that be?”

She doesn’t answer aloud, allows her body to talk for her instead. It’s a quick kiss, chaste and close-lipped. Not the sort of thing James was expecting from someone as direct as Madi.

“You seem surprised.”

He shakes his head, careful not to dislodge her. “I’m only just getting to know you.”

“I suspect you’ll me very well by the end of this night,” she replies, startling him with a waggle of her brows. “But let’s not talk about that. We’ll get there in our own time. For now, let’s do a little bit more getting to know each other.”

Here, then, come the kisses James had expected. Madi’s lips are soft, but her kisses are not.

 _Open up_ is the command he feels from her, and James doesn’t need to be told twice.

She kisses him hard and searching, her tongue moving against his without hesitation or shyness. She licks the roof of his mouth, runs her tongue over his teeth as if counting them, then coaxes his tongue out of his mouth and into her own.

The movement isn’t all up top. Madi moves against him, grinding down in his lap and against the line of his half-hard cock.

 _It’s been too long,_ he thinks, and it has. It’s been more than five years since Thomas and Miranda were in his life, and he hasn’t wanted anyone else. He hadn’t thought he ever would.

But there’s something about Madi, with the life sparkling in her eyes, and John, with his outrageous tales that mix truth and fiction, that feels right.

Her hands are warm where they’ve come up to grasp his head. One unties his hair, the other tilting his head, the better to let her get the angle she wants. She wraps a curl of it around her finger, tugs lightly, and James moans into the kiss. He feels her smile against his lips, and a moment later, she tugs again, harder this time, and he can’t help but push his hips up, seeking some sort of contact with her body.

“On your back,” she orders, kneeling up before he can get any relief. He does as she says, though, and collapses onto his back. Only once he’s settled does she lower herself down again, and fuck, it’s been too long- he scrabbles at her hips, bites his tongue against the heat in his belly, and only just feels the tide slow.

He’s breathing hard as she gracefully folds forward, her liquid brown eyes like ochre in the low light from the single lamp.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it,” she says, not asking. He nods anyway. Her expression turns softer as she rubs her nose against his. “We’ll take good care of you.”

James doesn’t doubt it.

He doesn’t doubt it when he skims off her dress and unhooks her bra.

He doesn’t doubt it when she unbuttons his shirt, drags his pants down his legs, and peels off his socks.

He doesn’t doubt it when her thong comes off and the lube comes out.

He doesn’t doubt it when she takes him in her mouth.

He doesn’t doubt it when John comes in, already naked, and lies down beside James, his own cock hard.

He doesn’t doubt it when they have him get onto his elbows and knees, ass in the air, ready for the lube and the fingers they carefully stretch him with.

He doesn’t doubt it when John presses him back onto the bed and onto his side, one leg hitched up to the soundtrack of John and Madi fiddling with the foil package and arguing about that being enough stroking now, the condom is on, does she want him to come now?

He doesn’t doubt it when John finally slides into him.

“Fuck,” John sighs. He has one hand on James’ hip, the other on his shoulder. Both grips are like vices; there will be bruises there tomorrow, without a doubt. “When’s the last time you did this?”

“It’s been a while,” James says, and the conversation ends there as Madi pulls out a second condom and rolls it onto him.

She’s tight and wet, and James has to bite his tongue again to keep from coming the moment he bottoms out. He, Miranda, and Thomas never fucked like this. It was only ever two of them at a time. Trying to keep track of everything that’s happening- the slick slide of Madi around his cock, the fevered pace John is setting that James can hardly think to push back into- is impossible. He doesn’t want to just be in the middle, like a breathing dildo, but it’s too much. Madi is kissing him again. John is whispering something in his ear, and James is going to fly apart trying to remember what to do-

“It’s fine,” John says, voice suddenly clear. “Just let us take care of you.”

And that, embarrassingly, is when James comes. He can’t tell what he shouts, if that’s even him shouting or if the sound is just the silence of a long overdue orgasm roaring in his ears.

When James comes to, he’s lying on his back.  John has pulled out of him and is lying face down in a pillow on one side of him, one arm slung over James’ chest, with Madi lying on her side, eyes wide open, on the other. When she realizes he’s looking at her, she gives him a small smile.

“You’ll remember more next time.”

“I’m sorry.”

Snorting, she shakes her head. “John was kind enough to get me off, if you’re worried about that. We knew this wouldn’t be your best performance, James.”

“Yes, but-”

“Go to sleep. We’ll figure out the rest in the morning.”

With that, she snuggles closer and slides one of her own arms over James’ chest, just below John’s. Pillowing her head on James’ shoulder, she lets out a heavy sigh. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” James says, and even though his mind is whirring with questions and fears and the old familiar pang of guilt, he finds himself slipping into sleep only minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i took a long break (for me) from writing smut, so i'm so sorry that this isn't as good as it should be ): i intended john to play a bigger role in this, but as he'd been drinking, i thought it would be better if he weren't the star of the show.


End file.
